Monday with Mounce

First of all, let me apologize for being so erratic in producing these Monday with Mounce blogs. BiblicalTraining.org now has a new president and so my time has opened up to get back to Greek. I also want to tell you about an important update on my Interlinear Bible. 

The translation of σάρξ has caused lots of grief over the years. BDAG gives it the semantic range of “flesh, physical body, a living being with flesh, human/mortal nature, earthly descent, the outward side of life.” Paul often uses it to describe the weak, sinful, human condition. So how should it be translated?

After three months of expensive and intensive work, I am pleased to announce that tomorrow the new BillMounce.com website will go live. You will be able to tell it's different although its functionality is basically the same. What's mostly changed is I have updated the infrastructure to a modern environment that will enable me to do things I couldn't do before. I want to especially thank those of you who have been donating to help cover the costs of these kinds of upgrades. 

A little textual criticism. Paul writes, “If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned (καυχήσωμαι), but have not love, I gain nothing” (ESV, KJV). Other translations follow a different variant. “If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast (καυχήσωμαι), but do not have love, I gain nothing” (NIV, also CBT, NRSV, NLT, NET).

Allowing for the fact that we all hear words a little differently, I was surprised to read that in many translations the Israelites really did not cross the Red Sea on dry ground. We’ve been tricked all these years! At least that is how I hear the “as” in Heb 11:29.